'The streets have spoken.' How will insurance respond?
Insurance organizations that are struggling with how to address racial inequity might turn to the industry’s professional groups for guidance.
Upon one of my first ventures away from home once my state’s COVID-19 stay-at-home order had expired, my car mechanic lamented that too few people were still thinking about the coronavirus risk.
“Now all they talk about are the protests,” he said. “It’s like the virus doesn’t even exist anymore!”
He added that his teenage daughter, who doesn’t drive, wanted to participate in local anti-racism demonstrations just like those that swept the country and the globe in response to the killing of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police.
“Wadya, gonna take the bus down there?” he said to his family’s young idealist. “No way!”
Clearly, COVID-19 was still on his mind, just as it continues to be a front-burner issue for most everyone, especially people working in insurance, who will be negotiating pandemic claims and litigation for the foreseeable future.
Insurance and racial justice
I would be remiss, however, if I said nothing here about the current state of racial unrest. But, just as it is for many of you, I find it agonizing to wrap words around so many thoughts and feelings linked to a complex issue.
I can say that from my particular socio-political perch, George Floyd’s tragic and unnecessary death came as little surprise. Systemic racism and police brutality against people of color in the United States is even older than the country itself.
Some have likened George Floyd’s death to the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till in terms of the power of a single event to catalyze the type of grassroots activism that flamed the American civil rights movement.
But I’m dubious. I felt cynical, at first, about the idea that this particular lethal confrontation could spark a sea change in society, law, and most especially the hearts and minds of individuals raised on a steady diet of privilege, entitlement and prejudice.
This was my mindset when, shortly after the demonstrations began, some of the people in my life started to check in with me. They wanted to see how I was doing, and to ‘make sure I was okay.’ Thanks for the kind words, I thought, but how are you doing? And more pointedly, what are you doing to push for the change that you apparently thought already happened?
Sure, the peaceful, prolonged political actions by young people have been impressive. But it’s concrete, actionable steps that really get my attention.
So I applaud cities that are legislating against extreme police violence and redistributing public safety funds for community programs. I’m glad I won’t have to look at the Aunt Jemima brand in the grocery store anymore. And I’m impressed when insurance businesses, which have a reputation for being “pale, stale and male,” adjust their processes and procedures to allow for a more equitable distribution of wealth and influence.
Insurance organizations that are still struggling with how to address racial inequity might turn to the industry’s professional groups for guidance. Consider the National African-American Insurance Organization. Its president, Ken Branch, serves on the NU Property & Casualty Editorial Advisory Board.
He recently sent a letter to the industry that said members of the NAAIO, “feel the pain and frustration inflicted daily due to racism… We invite each of you to join in the cause through your voice, practices, influence, and most importantly, your actions.”
As for me? I’ll defer to the words of entertainer Dave Chappelle from his recent YouTube/Netflix release, “8:46.”
“You don’t need to hear from me,” he said. “The streets have spoken!”
And that’s what’s top of mind for me this month.
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